At 30 June 2010 there were 29,700 prisoners (sentenced and unsentenced) in Australian prisons, an increase of 1% (383 prisoners) from 30 June 2009. This represented a national imprisonment rate of 170 prisoners per 100,000 adult population. The median aggregate sentence length for all sentenced prisoners was 3 years.

Unsentenced prisoners comprised 21% (6,367) of the total prisoner population, a decrease of 0.4% (26) from 30 June 2009. Over half (55%) of all prisoners had served a sentence in an adult prison prior to the current episode. The most serious offence/charge category of acts intended to cause injury accounted for the highest proportion of all prisoners (20% or 5,805).

Of the total prisoner population, 8% (2,228) were female and approximately eight in ten (80% or 23,863) were born in Australia. The median age of all prisoners was 33.5 years.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners comprised just over a quarter (26% or 7,584) of the total prisoner population. The age standardised imprisonment rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners was 1,892 per 100,000 adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. This was 14 times higher than non-Indigenous prisoners at 30 June 2010.

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